Long story short, I noticed a thumping / clicking sound coming from the rear of my car about two weeks ago. I took it to Subaru to have them look at it. Outcome was 2 twisted rear axles, a whining rear diff and possibly a center diff going out. So I thought screw it and decided to go the RWD route. Purchased another R180 rear diff, two rear axles and a AWD to RWD conversion kit. So 1300.00 bucks later, here I am with the parts. My question is, today I removed the rear axles, rear diff and the driveshaft. I dissconnected the shifter linkage and removed all of the bolts on the tailshaft so that I could pull out the center diff. When I pulled my axles out of the hub and rear diff, they came out pretty easy. I noticed on the end of the axle that goes into the rear diff there is a slot that looks like it is used to hold the the axle into the rear diff. Should my axles have had this ring or clip on them when I pulled them out?? Also, I removed all of the bolts from the tailshaft. But the tailshaft dosn't want to come off to get to the center diff. If anyone could help me out. It would be muchly appreciated. I will be finishing the conversion tommarrow. Thanks, Nick
anybody, need some help here
There should be a circlip that holds the axle in. Most likley it's inside the old dif. If you bought new axles from the dealer, they won't include the circlips.
On a side note, you managed to twist up the rear axles so your converting to RWD? I'm not sure how transfering MORE power to the rear is going to help you. You probably should invest in Driveshaftshop axles at the very least.
For an 04 STi, the service manual mentions nothing about a circlip. Pulled mine about 2 weeks ago and manual was right...